The term “Triple Crown” is utilized to signify a rare and extraordinary accomplishment of some honorable measure. In the sporting world, we tend to interject these two words to categorize the achievement of a “once-in-a-generation” horse or a powerful baseball player who is adept enough to lead his league in batting average as well as home runs and runs batted in.
Triple Crown is not associated with teams quite as often as individuals, and Three-Peat looks to be the more popular term for a team which wins three titles in a row. Regardless of which moniker we use for the feat, it is still befitting of any team which glides into rarefied air when they complete a championship trifecta.
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| The girls team from PC with Coach Susan Bender (far right) after defeating 36 other teams to capture the VISAA Division II championship for the 3rd straight year |
It’s even more amazing when two teams from the same sport at the same school dare to dream of earning this distinction.
But, as the Virginia Independent Schools (VIS) cross-country championships got under way on Friday afternoon over the rolling hills of Woodberry Forest High in Orange, VA, Peninsula Catholic entered both boys and girls teams who had completed two-thirds of the act. By winning the Virginia State Catholic and TCIS championships in the past two weeks, only a swift 5,000-meter run by 14 individuals (seven runners from both the boys and girls teams count in the scoring, although ten may compete) separated the Knights from their date with destiny.
And succeed they did!The girls won their fourth straight championship and both teams completed a triple crown sweep by winning the Virginia State Catholic meet, the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools (TCIS) meet and the Virginia Independent School meet. It is believed to be the first time in history that one school has fielded two teams that swept all meets.
The PC boys team placed seven out of the top 22 runners. The Knights finished with 38 points, outdistancing runner-up Veritas (58) of Richmond. Williamsburg's Walsingham Academy was fourth.
Peninsula Catholic’s Max Weidman, as expected, led the way for the Knights, placing third in 18:41.21 seconds. Teammate Collin White was fourth, and Walsingham’s Jack Grimson finished fifth. Freshman Andrew Via was seventh.
Martine Hunnicutt, the Lady Knights ace all season, led PC’s girls with a fourth-place finish in 20:25.85, while Julia MacMasters finished ninth.
Here is the box score, as it read on HR Varsity (hrvarsity.com) yesterday.
BOYS
Team scoring: 1, Peninsula Catholic 38. 2, Veritas (Richmond) 58. Others: 4, Walsingham Academy 227.
Individuals: 1, Clikeman, Veritas, 17:42.24.
Peninsula-area runners in top 25: 3, Weidman, Peninsula Catholic, 18:14.21. 4, White, Peninsula Catholic, 18:22.19. 5, Grimson, Walsingham, 18:26.66. 7, Via, Peninsula Catholic, 18:34.28. 11, Khalsa, Peninsula Catholic, 18:42.16. 13, Gustke, Peninsula Catholic, 18:46.65. 17, Taleghani, Peninsula Catholic, 19:49.39. 22, Keegan, Peninsula Catholic, 19:00.35.
GIRLS
Team scoring: 1, Peninsula Catholic 82. 2, Walsingham Academy 112.
Individuals: 1, Lewis, Veritas (Richmond) 19:38.45.
Peninsula runners in top 25: 4, Hunnicutt, Peninsula Catholic, 20:25.85. 5, Mann, Walsingham, 20:51.63. 8, Kinney, Walsingham, 21:17.97. 9, MacMasters, Peninsula Catholic, 21:18.43. 12, Theurer, Peninsula Catholic, 21:36.43. 18, Riggs, Walsingham, 21:47.70.
And here's an unedited (not better) version of the article I wrote for the Daily Press, which appeared in yesterday's sports. The official version can be found at:
In the VIS meet alone, it had been seven years since a boys and girls team swept the team titles, with Covenant from Charlottesville taking both trophies home for the Division II classification in 2007.
PC also ran in the D-2 category, but only because of school size (under 161 students per gender), not ability. According to the latest statewide Milestat.com rankings, the Knight boys are ranked second among all independent schools, just behind Trinity Episcopal, while the girls stand in third overall behind traditional D-1 powerhouses St. Catherine’s and Bishop O’Connell.
But there’s always room for a scare, even for the girls team, which has won the past two VIS Division II crowns and completed the triple crown last year.
“(Going into the TCIS meet) Norfolk Academy was looking tougher each week. We knew they were going to be hard to beat. And we hadn’t faced Walsingham at all, so it was hard to say how we would fare against them,” said girls coach Susan Bender.
As it turned out, the scare from Norfolk Academy (a VISAA Division I team) was real. The Lady Knights won with 39 points, but NA was close behind with 48. Walsingham placed third with 69.
Martine Hunnicutt, the Daily Press cross-country athlete of the year from 2012, has paced the team in both races. She won the State Catholic race at Newport News Park with a time of 19:48, then dropped 25 seconds the following week to place second to Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s Chandler Bergeron at the TCIS meet, also run at Newport News Park.
Hunnicutt’s improvement over one week has been indicative of each runner’s individual growth over the course of the season.
“I think we have all surprised ourselves by how much every single member of the team has improved their times,” said the senior team captain.
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| Not to be outdone, the boys team, led by Coach Mike Pilola, also won the State Catholic, TCIS and VA Independent School (Div. 2) titles in 2014 |
Emily Theurer and sophomore Julia MacMasters also placed in the top seven at both meets to earn first-team State Catholic and TCIS honors. To win on Friday, the Lady Knights will also have to rely on their depth in the fourth through seventh slots, as the cross-country scoring system (lowest score wins) is unique in that the fourth and fifth best runners can help a team more than the fastest runners as long as they place high in the standings. A core of runners will look to help box out opposing harriers, including Grace Miner, Abby TAnko, Emily Bennick, Maria Mummert and Jessica Luff.
Junior Max Weidman has led the boys team for the duration of the fall season. Weidman placed second in both the State Catholic (16:26) and TCIS (16:24) meets, followed to the finish both times by teammates Troy Gustke, Collin White and Ryan Duregger. For their efforts, Gustke and White earned first-team honors for both the VSC and TCIS, while Duregger, Guru Bandaa Khalsa, Eric Taleghani made the second team. Freshman Andrew Via (10th in TCIS) also earned second team honors.
Previous to Friday's meet, boys coach Mike Pilola looked at the significance of the moment, noting that “it would be tremendous for both teams to accomplish something this significant in the same year.”
Reflecting after the TCIS meet, Bender added, “It is an even greater blessing when the Peninsula Catholic boys and girls accomplish these goals together.”
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